[press release] Asko|Schönberg opens the Minimal Music Festival with the Dutch premiere of Reich/Richter. NB extra concert due to great interest.

Reich/Richter - 12 April Amsterdam Minimal Music Festival

Also in the Minimal Music Festival:

Mapping Andriessen - 13 April, by Asko|Schönberg and Ensemble Klang

Reich/Richter

Two of the greatest living artists in their own disciplines join forces: Steve Reich, founder of minimal music and Gerhard Richter, which ranks among the top post-war visual arts. Together, they guarantee the hypnotic audiovisual experience Reich/Richter.

Success in New York

'An outright triumph for creators and performers.' That was what the premiere of the work in New York in 2019 triggered, according to several media outlets. Reich/Richter was performed as many as six days a week four times between 6 April and 2 June that year, totalling 200 performances.

This special collaboration between Steve Reich and Gerhard Richter is being performed live in the Netherlands for the first time, by Asko|Schönberg and percussionist/conductor Colin Currie.

Share, mirror, repeat

Richter worked closely with filmmaker Corinna Belz for this production, bringing his paintings to life to Reich's pulsating sounds. You see how colour explosions evolve into horizontal stripes and vice versa, through a process of dividing, mirroring and repeating. Reich employs the same technique in his score, which harks back to his systematic works of success from the 1970s. Scenographer Theun Mosk designs a set especially for Asko|Schönberg's performances that accentuates the 'collaboration' between image and sound.

The musical performance is in the best possible hands with star percussionist Colin Currie and Asko|Schönberg. The ensemble also tackles Reich's classic Four Organs from 1970 and Colin Currie soloing in Trump Miniature by composer Bryce Dessner, who is also known as a member of thealternative rock band The National.

Mapping Andriessen

With the happening Mapping Andriessen Asko|Schönberg, together with Ensemble Klang, charts the immense influence of Louis Andriessen through work by his students: Missy Mazzoli (USA), Steve Martland, Matthew Wright (UK) and Pete Harden (NL). Andriessen (1939 - 2021) left his mark on Dutch and international musical life as a composer and as an educator for over half a century. This new generation of composers each developed a signature of their own.

The concert takes place partly outside the concert hall and partly inside the hall using (live) video projections.